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New Trustee Matching Scholarship to benefit turfgrass majors

February 11, 2014

New Trustee Matching Scholarship to benefit turfgrass majors

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Students majoring in Turfgrass Science in the College of Agricultural Sciences will receive first consideration for a new Trustee Scholarship established by a pair of Penn State alumni.

With a gift of $50,000, William F. and Diane Randolph, of Powell, Ohio, created an endowment to fund the M. Forest Randolph and William F. Randolph Trustee Scholarship, which will be awarded to a student in the college with demonstrated financial need.

The Trustee Matching Scholarship Program maximizes the impact of private giving while directing funds to students as quickly as possible, meeting the urgent need for scholarship support. For Trustee Scholarships created through the end of For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students on June 30, 2014, Penn State will provide an annual 10 percent match of the total pledge or gift.

This level is an increase from the program's original match of 5 percent, and it is available only for new endowments of $50,000 or more. The University match, which is approximately double the endowment's annual spendable income, continues in perpetuity, multiplying the support available for students with financial need.

William Randolph graduated from College of the Liberal Arts at Penn State in 1970 with a degree in general arts and sciences and went on to earn a master's of business administration from the University of New Orleans. As an undergraduate, he was a student manager for the indoor and outdoor track teams.

Recently retired from Huntington Bancshares Inc., he is a member of the College of Agricultural Sciences Volunteer Development Council and co-chair of the donor engagement committee.

Diane Randolph is a 1970 alumna of the Eberly College of Science at Penn State, graduating with a degree in medical technology.

In addition to this new scholarship, the Randolphs in 1999 created the M. Forest Randolph Memorial Scholarship in Plant Science in memory of William's father.

"We have been very pleased with the support that our original scholarship fund provided and continues to provide to students," William Randolph said. "In the current campaign, the opportunity arose to provide significant additional scholarship dollars through the matching format of the trustee scholarships. We are very proud to be a part of the Penn State family and to contribute to the education of the current and future generation of Penn State students.

"When we originally started our scholarship, our development officer said that 'as long as there is a Penn State, these scholarships will be there.' It is a powerful idea that our contributions will help students in perpetuity."

The Randolphs' gift will help the College of Agricultural Sciences to achieve the goals of For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students. This University-wide effort is directed toward a shared vision of Penn State as the most comprehensive, student-centered research university in America.

The University is engaging Penn State's alumni and friends as partners in achieving six key objectives: ensuring student access and opportunity, enhancing honors education, enriching the student experience, building faculty strength and capacity, fostering discovery and creativity, and sustaining the University's tradition of quality. The campaign's top priority is keeping a Penn State degree affordable for students and families. The For the Future campaign is the most ambitious effort of its kind in Penn State's history, with the goal of securing $2 billion by 2014.